We have had an eventful 2009. Early on, The Hawth hosted an edition of the BBC’s Question Time and a number of local people had some air time on the small screen.
In February, Crawley Council, for the third year running, set the lowest Council Tax rise (2%) of all the 17 main tax-raising local authorities throughout West andEast Sussex. We also set a balanced budget meaning that income matched spending without any direct draw on reserves. All three political parties voted for the budget for the first time that I can remember.
A spin-off from our financial success has been the advancing of the neighbourhood parade improvement programme by two years, to finish in 2011. We have also, in the depths of the recession, driven forward the Bewbush and Langley Green neighbourhood centre regeneration schemes.
At K2, we had the launch of the Crawley Wellbeing partnership aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles. It was great to have the event at such a flagship facility which now includes advisory and signposting services for people with health concerns and queries.
Recognising that 20% of Crawleyhousing is owned by the Council, we were pleased to launch our Decent Homes contracts. These represent a large investment for our tenants and their properties. Delivering new affordable housing has remained a challenge and we have been actively pursuing a plan with about a dozen complementary approaches to secure new provision.
It was disappointing that the NEWS (North East West Sussex) Review of Health Services did not recommend a new major general hospital forCrawley, meaning that other avenues now need to be explored. Ultimately what matters is how any new hospital would be run. We can be really pragmatic about how it could be delivered in the first place. Central to any provision must be the principle of free and open access for NHS patients.
Internally, the Council has conducted thorough reviews of its decision making processes. We now have much better and more efficient delegation and have scrapped some rather arcane practices. Tangible evidence of our success has been seen with much shorter Full Council and Cabinet meetings.
A highlight of the year wasCrawleywinning the top South and South East in Bloom awards. There is something very special about the way our community works together to achieve success in this competition. It is a source of immense credit and pride for everyone involved.
GatwickAirporthas changed hands again and we look forward to a fruitful relationship with the new owners. I hope that we can build a wider appreciation of the merit of smart growth that might be business traffic-led rather than a purely volume-based approach. At the same time, we will, working with WSCC (West Sussex County Council), continue our investment in Manor Royal, which is consistent with our broader support for economic diversification.
I wish everyone a Happy New Year.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
30th December 2009